


1 to 6

by stelleappese



Series: 30 drabbles [1]
Category: Boardwalk Empire
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-16 23:41:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16504994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stelleappese/pseuds/stelleappese
Summary: Meyer is stressed out and Charlie tries to help.





	1. The smell of burning wood

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts from [here](http://heir-to-the-diamond-throne.tumblr.com/post/151164415366/64-sensory-prompts)

**I - The smell of burning wood**

Waking up is difficult: Meyer’s consciousness is still entangled with sleep, and although he opens his eyes a few times, gets small but clear flashes of the room he’s in, sleep drags him back with ease.  
There’s the soft heaviness of a blanket covering him, the crackling of a fire, the smell of burning wood, the sound of Charlie humming to himself.  
Meyer feels heavy and hot enough that he must have been asleep for a while. He’d sat down on the couch of Charlie’s cabin while Charlie was busy covering up his fig tree to protect it from cold of winter. He can’t remember waiting very long.  
But there is so much to do, so much work…  
He orders his body to move, but he only manages to make one of his arms flop and drag the blanket off of him.  
The humming stops. Steps move closer, and the blanket is put back on him. Charlie’s hand briefly rests on top of Meyer’s head, gently ruffling his hair.  
“Go back to sleep,” Charlie says. And Meyer does.


	2. The waver in a person’s voice when they’re stressed

**II - The waver in a person’s voice when they’re stressed**

“You knew it was going to snow,” Meyer says, his eyes threateningly cold.  
“Maybe.” Charlie admits, looking away from Meyer and to the water bubbling on the stove.  
“Are you fucking with me, Charlie?”  
The way Meyer says it, his voice sort of hitching as the sentence fades, is everything Charlie needs to know he’s done the right thing. But he can’t tell Meyer that. Not if he wants to keep all of his body parts attached.  
He waits before facing Meyer. He drops the spaghetti, all broken up tiny, into the water; turns off the heat under the broth before the potatoes completely disappear.  
“You’re just pissed off I’m prepared for emergencies and you ain’t.” Charlie says, “If this was your cabin and your fig tree and a snow storm came, we would’ve been starving, right now.”  
The cold in Meyer’s eyes fades a little. He shakes his head.  
“Stop it,” he says.  
“It’s real quiet,” Charlie says. “We got plenty of wood. We’re gonna be fine, Meyer.”  
He knows Meyer doesn’t completely buy it, but can he blame Charlie? If he’d offered help explicitly, Meyer would never have accepted it.  
Meyer doesn’t complain. He doesn’t say anything at all. He just sits at the table and looks into the distance.


	3. Gritty eyes when you stare into fire too long

**III - Gritty eyes when you stare into fire too long**

Meyer knows Charlie meant no harm, and he’s aware his behavior hasn’t exactly been…  
But still. Meyer doesn’t like being treated like a child. He doesn’t like having the chance to choose taken from him.  
His eyes feel dry and gritty. He doesn’t know whether it’s because he’s been staring into the fire for too long, because of how much he slept, or because of how tired he still is.  
Because Charlie is right about that. Meyer has never been so tired in his life. It’s a bone-deep, aching, dull sort of tiredness. Every step he takes requires all of his will power, and man, if there’s something Meyer doesn’t lack it’s that…  
He thought it was the change in his routine. He thought things would settle down eventually. But his new apartment, his new bed, everything feels so foreign to him. He can’t make himself lower his guard.  
He looks at Charlie, who’s standing on the porch outside the window, a heavy coat on, hands in his pockets, looking at the snow as it rages on. Only then does Meyer notice he’s been fidgeting with his wedding band, and immediately stops. Another foreign object, that ring. Another thing that has, on Meyer’s nerves, the effect of a sharp pebble in his shoe.  
He looks at Charlie again just as his shoulders rise and fall in a sigh. Slipping his wedding band off is the most instinctive of gestures, as is getting up and walking towards the door.


	4. Violet bruised eyes

**IV - Violet bruised eyes**

Meyer walks out of the cabin with no coat on. He doesn’t look bothered by the cold, even though his breath comes out in puffs of white. There are deep, bruise-like shadows underneath his eyes.  
“I’m gonna make the bed in a moment,” Charlie says.  
Meyer nods, but doesn’t talk. He lingers next to Charlie, looking as unreachable as he always does when there’s something going on in his head.  
Charlie wants to say something, he wants to fill the silence. He doesn’t dare to, though.He breathes out deeply, switches his weight from one foot to the other.  
“You look like you need a break,” he finally blurts out, and immediately curses his lack of control. “Sleep a little. Eat. Just…”  
“Later,” Meyer says. He grabs Charlie’s wrist, takes a step back towards the door. “I’ll sleep later.”


	5. The tender ache when you press against bruises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: smut ahead lol

**V - The tender ache when you press against bruises**

The way Charlie looks at Meyer as he grabs Charlie’s cock and guides it inside him make a shiver run down Meyer’s spine. This isn’t how this sort of things usually goes, and Meyer doesn’t care to analyse why exactly he’s doing this, but Charlie’s looking at him with something very close to wonder and that alone is enough to keep Meyer going.  
“Are you sure about this?” Charlie asks, his voice tight. “I mean, you ain’t got to…”  
“Shut up, Charlie.” Meyer says, swaying a little, trying to get used to the not-entirely-unpleasant feeling of slick, warm fulness.  
“Ok,” Charlie murmurs, his voice very small and very dreamy.  
As soon as Meyer’s shirt is off, Charlie’s hands instinctively start to move to the closest uncovered skin available, but he stops himself before actually touching him.  
“What happened?” he asks, fingers lingering over a big blue bruise on Meyer’s side.  
What happened was that Meyer got back home drunk at the break of dawn and fell while climbing up the stairs, but he doesn’t tell Charlie that.   
“That’s irrelevant,” he says instead.   
“Are you…?” Charlie starts, his fingers pressing softly against the tender skin. That, too, makes Meyer shiver. Charlie makes to sit up, but Meyer grabs him by the air and slowly guides him back down.  
“I’m fine.” he says, against Charlie’s lips. He rolls his hips with a bit more confidence that what he thought he was capable of, leans down to drag his teeth against Charlie’s exposed throat, Charlie’s hair still tightly clenched in his fist.  
“Ok.” Charlie breathes out. “Ok…”


	6. A person’s weight as they lie on top of you

**VI - A person’s weight as they lie on top of you**

Everything is quiet, when Charlie wakes up. The world outside their blanket is cold, the embers in the fireplace almost completely burned out. Meyer’s warm weight on top of him is, possibly, the most glorious feeling Charlie has ever experienced.  
His nose is cold, so he pushes it against the top of Meyer’s head. Meyer’s doesn’t stir. His breath puffs against Charlie’s skin.  
He squeezes him a little tighter, Charlie, sighs against his hair, and Meyer, without really waking up, runs a hand up and down Charlie’s chest, then snuggles closer.  
Charlie grins and resists the urge to kiss Meyer awake.   
He can let Meyer sleep a little longer. Everything’s fine.


End file.
